Lasting Affection
by Sweet303
Summary: Not really good at summaries but briefly: Paul imprints on Bella who has been abused. Rated M because abuse
1. Chapter 1

Hell Ascends

(If you've ever read the Mortal Instrument series, which is fabulous, then you might know I stole this title from Cassandra Clare.)

I sat curled into the corner, beaten and bloodied, angry and depressed, things I never had a problem with before but now did. My breathing was difficult, coming I short painful gasps that sort of made me feel like a fish out of water. Earlier this evening Phil, my uncle; no matter how much I wished other wise, came home drunk, as usual.

Flashback:

"Beelllaa!" Phil's slurred scream came up the stairs along with his pounding foot steps, unsteadily making his way upstairs, fear striking my heart at these simple noises. He never had to worry about neighbors hearing his screaming, or mine, we lived in the middle of no where, in the middle of LaPushes forest. I could hear his foot catch on one of the steps and he would stumble forward; cussing in irritation and screaming my name out again as it were my fault he couldn't walk straight. Immediately I stood up, fight still in me amazingly, as this had been going on for months. My parents had died in a car crash about seven months ago and I was shipped off to the closest relative, who was unfortunately my uncle Phil, who I had never even heard of until the day I was told I would be living with him. Moving me from sunny California to constantly rainy LaPush, not that I noticed the weather much being constantly locked inside this dismal room, that was when hell ascended.

Phil was a huge man, usually I was thankful for the strong genes my family had, but now I wished more than anything it had skipped a generation, specifically his. I pushed my back up against the door, using all my minimal weight to keep it from opening. Phil wasn't feeding me well, on top of that I have always been thin, I had a body of an athlete, which was slowly disintegrating with malnourishment. Before, in this basically empty room there was a chair that I would take and shove under the door knob to keep him out, unfortunately after awhile he found out that was what I was using to slow his entrance into the room and took it away. Now I had to use my body to keep the door shut for as long as possible and it was becoming increasingly hard. Hearing the jiggling of his keys and scraping as he drunkenly tried to find the keyhole that would give him access to me, my legs began to tremble, my body instantly recognizing the signs of the impending danger. Finally he found the keyhole and tried to slowly open the door at first, which wasn't really working with me leaning against it.

"Bella, Bell, Bellaaa…" He called out, trying to sound patronizing as if I were a dog but failing miserably and only sounded like a retard. Eventually he realized the door wasn't opening easily and I heard him back away from the door, in the next instant I was sent flying across the room and Phil stumbling in. Finally catching what little balance he had left he turned to look at me with blurry red eyes, "Com'er ya lil' bitch." Grabbing my long blond hair; that I once loved but now only saw as a weapon that could be used against me. He slammed up against the wall and I immediately lashed out; clawing his face with the little energy I had left from the past seven months. He cried out and retaliated with his meaty fist plowing into my stomach, forcing all the air out of me and crack something painfully. He released my hair and I fell to the ground, as time past the quicker I lost these battles and had no more fight for the night.

He kneeled down smiling sadistically at me, "You're useless ya know tha'? I'm sure ya'r parentsss were gla' to be gone from thisss earf jus ta ge' away from you!" He shouted, his spit, much to my disgust, splattering all over my face. Caressing my check, he had been getting touchier lately, which worried me a great deal. I knew he was wrong, he's the useless one and my parents loved me dearly, but after seven months of this I couldn't seem to get rid of this voice in the back of my head asked 'what if he was right, why else would I be beaten daily?' But I fought this voice; life was better before and will be again if I have anything to say about it.

This fight came out in me as anger, "Liar!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, turning my head and savagely biting into his hand on my check.

Screaming in agony he kneed me hard, splitting my lip open and effectively knocking me out.

End Flashback

When I had woken up I crawled into this corner on instinct and curled into a defensive ball, thinking of way to break out of this windowless locked room and out to freedom, and hoping he would remember or even consider feeding me today.


	2. Chapter 2

**I forgot to put one of these at the beginning of my last chapter, but you all know I don't own anything, so I think we're good.**

Escape

I woke up slowly, dizzy, and amazingly my ribs hurt even more, to the point I was surprised I was even breathing at all. Soon I looked down and discovered the source of my much added pain, although he had been the source of my prior pain too… Phil had in his drunken state had not even made it out of the room and apparently fell asleep on top of me, much to my disgust. At the beginning of my 'stay' here, if you could call it that, he always made sure to leave and lock the door behind him, but as more time past; the lazier he got. This I was hoping would lead to my escape, unfortunately the time I usually became conscious again was around about the same time he would sober up and awake.

Slowly, careful not to wake him, I squirmed trying to free my self from his pressuring weight; tears leaking from my eyes at how much more pain this cause to my ribs, and basically every other sore part of my body. Nauseatingly; as I moved out from under him his drool smeared across my collarbone, with a nasty yellow tint left over from his chewing tobacco. Finally free from the weight of the abomination that some people would call a man, I stood up and hurriedly used my dress, which I no longer cared about since it was completely ruined, I having worn it since the day I got here; it was torn and bloodied, to wipe his spit from my chest. I tried not to wiper at the warm wet feeling I felt through the thin fabric. It had once been a cute summer dress that I had left over from my Cali days, no longer was it cute, but it was the only article of clothing I now owned, I have no idea what Phil did with the rest of my belongings.

Phil moved, grunting, efficiently rooting me still where I stood, stricken with fear. He began to roll over and I panicked. I couldn't be caught again, I couldn't stand another beating, I had to get out of here and this would not be a failed attempt this time. Driven by my panic, reflexively, I kneeled down and my hand shot out; making contact with his noise. Simultaneously, I heard a sickening crunch and my knuckles were covered in his thick warm blood. With a noise that was similar to that of a wounded animal, he rolled over onto his back cupping his nose, just as I was reaching for the gun at his belt, missing my target because his sudden movements. Jumping back I stood over him, so many thoughts reeling though my head, I tried to decide what to do next when his arm shot out and swept my ankles out from under me. Landing hard on my back, I cried out as another one of my already weakened ribs snapped and my head hit the floor with a resounding thump.

"You little whore!" he screamed and sat heavily on my chest, straddling me and never given me the chance to regain my breath, I cried out once again; losing the little air I had left, as my ribs protested. "You want to act like a whore! I'll treat you as one!" he yelled, punctuating eat sentence with a degrading slap to my face. By now I was sobbing, but trying to retain my hysteria to think clearly. He leaned down till his chapped lips were scratching my ear, whispering, "But since that's the only thing your good at, I guess your behavior is to be expected." Licking up the side of my face to confirm what he said, it took everything I had in me not to lash out immediately, but reach for his gun once again. Feeling me messing with his halted he shot to his feet, "Bitch!" luckily I kept a firm grip on his gun so it slid out of his halter as he stood. Now having the weapon in my possession my foot kicked up and into his groin, much to my satisfaction he fell to his knees with a strangled howl as I stood.

He began to stand, but by now I had the gun aimed at his head, safety off, "Don't fucking move." I warned, my voice trembling despite the strength I was attempting to put into it as cocked the gun. I wasn't normally one to cuss, but this despicable creature disserved to be called every nasty name in the book.

"Bella" He growled in warning, but I was the one who held the power now. It was amazing how much I wanted to put a bullet through this mans head, how much I would enjoy watching him fall limply to the floor. Even though, it would be a pleasure to rid the earth of the menace Phil was, I wasn't sure I could live with murder one my conscience, no matter how disserving the victim. He jumped up and I adeptly followed him with the gun aiming slightly lower and putting a bullet in his shoulder, once again he feel to his knees, this time gripping his bleeding shoulder. I walked forward, not to close but enough so he could here my low speaking, I wasn't sure I could do anything above a whisper at the moment.

"For the moment; just knowing you will rot in hell will have to be my vengeance." With that said I fired another bullet into his thigh, making sure he couldn't follow me, there was a muffled thump as it made contact with his thigh bone. Jumping over him and running out of the house; I enjoyed what would hopefully be the last sound I ever heard from Phil, his agonized scream.

**Like? If you have an opinion or criticism you would like to share, please do so. If not, well nothing I suppose : ) I'll be updating as soon as I can. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Ugh! I didn't realize how many spelling errors I made in the last two chapters until I just now looked them over again. It annoys me; I'll try to watch myself in the future. : ) Now, I hope you enjoy chapter 3. I still don't own anything.**

First Encounter

Short of breathe and exhausted I had been wandering for hours. I had not considered anything past making it out of Phil's house alive, so now I was in the forest lost, cold, soaking wet, and if you could believe it; my dress was torn even more. With my fingers turning an unhealthy blue; I was swaying in and out of awareness for my actions, which lead to many cuts on my feet and my dress getting caught on a myriad of branches. My eyelids were heavy as I tried to keep them open to watch where I was going, tired of stubbing my already bleeding toes. I wanted to stop and rest, but I had a feeling sleeping out here in a useless ruined summer dress, in the pouring rain, in my current health, would lead to nothing but my death. Yawning I stretched my mouth open wide; unthinking of my split lip and reopened the wound, I gasped in surprise and pain which quickly turned to anger.

_Really?_ Raising my fist I dropped to the ground and slammed my clenched hands into the wet earth with all the strength I had left. Screaming at the top of my lungs, blood dripping down my chin, I continued my assault on the muddy floor; looking for anything to take the blame for my seemingly hopeless situation. I was pissed, pissed that I had finally escaped my nightmare only to fall into another one, pissed that even though Phil was not here to see it; he was winning, and pissed that I was wet, sore, and starving. Breathing hard I finally calmed down enough to notice the feeling of someone watching me. Pissed at yet another thing, being caught of guard, I spun around only to fall from by knees onto my bruised tailbone in surprise. Standing, not but ten feet away from me; was a humongous silver wolf. Whether this beast could be considered a wolf or not; I had no idea, but if it was a wolf; it certainly wasn't the normal kind. It towered over me and I knew if I were to stand; it would still tower over my 5 feet and 6 inches. I'm not kidding when I say this thing is huge, its muscles rippled under it's fur as it cautiously walked towards me.

It's approach made my eyes snap up to the beast's face, meeting it's grey blue eyes that bizarrely looked more human than animalistic. As if the soul and mind of a human were in control of this wolf like body. When our eyes met the wolf tensed and was intently staring at me, looking as if it had just discovered something absolutely amazing. Legs trembling I cautiously stood, I remembered hearing somewhere that it wasn't smart to make sudden movements in the presence of a wild animal, but I wanted to be in a ready position to either run or defend myself. Plus, this animal didn't look all to wild. Yeah, it was huge and could dismember me within seconds, but I had a feeling it understood this situation; this creature seemed to have an understanding of the importance of life. I could only hope I wasn't wrong or that its only understanding of life was for its own and food, me, was essential for said life. Definitely hope my first guess is right.

Without warning, my seemingly understanding wolf crouched down, ears back, and bared its teeth; growling menacingly. Scared by this sudden change in demeanor, I stepped back with wide eyes. The beast whimpered and stepped closer to me; quickly meeting my eyes pleadingly, then going back to looking over my shoulder and growling. Only then did I realize it had been looking over my shoulder every since it started growling, whatever was making it mad; wasn't me.

"Fond of this human; are we?" I heard a chilling yet beautiful, female voice from behind me. Nearly having a heart attack; I spun around to see one of the most beautiful people I had ever seen in my life. She was almost perfect, flawless skin, gorgeous red flowing hair, and the figure of an Amazonian princess. Despite her welcoming appearance I took a step back, momentarily forgetting the giant creature behind me, the woman had eyes the color of frozen over blood. She continued to speak, "That's okay," smiling as if she were accepting an apology, "despite what my mother has always taught me, playing with my food is just to fun to give up."

The growling behind me got louder, increasing in anger. I was stuck between to dangers, one I thought I could trust but you could never be sure. Trying to pay attention to both threats and keep my wits about me wasn't working to well. My ears had begun to ring and unless everything had just gone silent; my hearing was fading, and my vision was starting to cloud over and narrow-out. This was too much for my deprived weak body and mind to take; I could no longer hold my self up and fell onto the forest floor. The last thing I saw was the silver wolf gracefully jumping over me, with wildness finally appearing in its eyes, and then nothing. Black.

**As you may have guessed, no, the imprintee (in my story) does not feel the imprint. Paul is going to have to work for her love and Bella is going to have to fall into it. : ) Muahahaha!**

**Oh yeah, and thank you to everyone that reviewed, I really appreciate it. And I know one of you asked when Paul was going to come into the story. That'll be right about now lol : )**


	4. Chapter 4

**Oh my goodness gracious I haven't updated in a long while; and for that I would like to apologize, I've been very busy. But with out further more I present chapter 4 and my first shot at Paul's point of view. Bum bum bum. **

It was around 6 o'clock and with daylight savings it was already dark, not that that affected me with my enhanced vision and all, but today was relatively sunny and I was sorry to see it go. I was running, on all fours, I rarely traveled on two legs any longer, I just couldn't stand the slow pace of it anymore; wolf style was so much faster, to Emily's house. I was hoping she would feed me before I had patrol in an hour, I used to feel bad for always eating at Sam and Emily's but every time I mentioned it Emily would be all over me telling me I'm not a burden, how she loves cooking and so on. Eventually I just gave in and like the rest of the pack I was over all the time, it was like our home. I had no other family, my dad left when I was young and my mother died drunk driving about two years ago, so the pack was my only family. Although I'd never say it to the guys, I think I got used to shape shifting faster than the others because it gave me something instead of only taking away. It gave me a family and being able to run in wolf form and tear into vampires really helped with the anger I had, Seth said I was getting better with controlling my rage, but then again Seth was always the positive one.

"Hey guys." I said ducking through the door, greeting Jacob and Jared sitting on the couch, careful to wipe my feet on the doormat as not to ruin Emily's pristine carpet. I wasn't sure why Jacob was here, but Jared was going on patrol with me in an hour so I guessed he was here for the same reason I was, food. Although, that was a very reasonable reason for Jake to be here too.

"Sup." Jacob said quickly; never removing his eyes from the football game on the screen in front of him.

"Hey man," Jared said getting up and walking past me towards the kitchen, "Emily's making beef stroganoff."

I rolled my eyes; beef stroganoff was Jared's favorite. "No wonder you're here."

Emily, delighted as always to have us all there, happily served us all, surprisingly the whole pack showed up. Apparently we all had nothing better to do this weekend, but once you joined the pack your only good friends were usually those in the pack or those who knew. Even Kim and Nessie showed up, Jared and Jacob's imprints, Emily didn't falter the slightest at the large group, just made more food, ordering a few of us around the kitchen and served us all with an everlasting smile. Despite all that Sam, Emily, and Leah had been through, Emily was a thoroughly happy person, and Leah was slowly (even if it was extremely slow and bitch filled process) was coming around.

Brady and Collin arrived last covered head to toe in mud, sending Emily into a hissy fit, "Are you nuts?" Emily exclaimed shooting straight up from her once sitting position on Sam's lap, eyeing the foot prints trailing behind the brothers on he clean hardwood floor. Shockingly, even with werewolves constantly in her house, Emily was a bit of a neat freak. "Look at my floor! How the hell did you get _that_ covered in mud anyway?" Despite Emily's furious expression the rest of the pack, including Sam, couldn't help but laugh at Brady and Collin's expense.

Shortly after all this Sam sent Jared and I reluctantly to patrol that now freezing night, yeah, I was defiantly missing the sun we had earlier today. For the most part having a pack mind wasn't easy to adjust to, but we all got really talented at blocking each other out, which; after talking awhile was exactly what Jared and I did, leaving one another to our own thoughts.

Not long after that I caught the scent of a vampire, "Shit." I cursed before calling Jared and letting out a deep howl to alert the others.

Within minutes they were all phased and bombarding me with questions, but Sam's voice easily rang over them all, "Where?"

"Northwest of here, I'm following the trail." I replied showing them where I was.

"We'll meet you there."

All of us just about to take off running force as a heartbreakingly agonized cry rang out through the forest, distinctly female. It sent shivers down my spine to think we were too late, that the vampire had already gotten someone.

"Shit! Paul hurry! Everyone move!" Sam, always the leader commanded, sending us all on our way again.

The screaming faded out until it was nothing, but I was close enough that I could hear the heavy breathing of a human and I caught the air of a scent that immediately distracted me from the task at hand. It was so calming and engaging al at once, it was clean; smelling of cotton and mix of apples and white nectarine. Also smelling blood I was quickly on course again _No we couldn't be to late_, we hadn't lost anyone yet and the thought losing a life made my heart constrict, it was a terrible feeling.

I broke into a clearing where the scent led only to see a woman on her knees slouching to the floor, her fist clenched tight. There was no vampire, no horrific death scene, or death scene to be, just this small women breathing deeply and crying, telling from the salt I could smell. Abruptly turning around she saw me and feel back with a yelp of surprise. She was in a torn white dress, dirtied and bloodied, her long blond hair fell in loose ringlets, although her hair was tangled and had blood crusted into it; you could tell if clean it was would be beautiful. She had high check bones, a straight nose, and artistically long eyelashes; all this together made her look like a northern goddess. Unfortunately she was covered in scratches, cut, bruises, and such, it was heartbreaking and I couldn't think of anyone who would harm such a lovely creature. I knew a vampire would, but if a vampire did this she would be dead already. Still confused, I stepped forward, catching her attention, with a small gasp her eyes shot up to meet mine, her eyes a dark navy blue.

I was grounded, everything stopped. She was my everything and anything else came second after her, she was my first priority and my love. I had just imprinted on this lovely went wounded women. Slowly and unsteadily she stood up, panic gripped my heart at the thought of her running away. Movement behind her caught my eyes, not that far and all to close to my imprint was a red-headed she-vampire, smirking at me. My imprints eyes widened and she took a step back, closer to the enemy, _No_, I whimpered and took a step forward, I had not meant to scare her. Pleading her with my eyes to trust me, before turning my attention back to the leech, growling once again, hoping this fragile woman knew I meant her no harm.

"Fond of this human; are we?" the leech said tauntingly, my imprint spun around at the noise and my growling got louder and more defiance.

Finally recalling my pack who was still on there way, I could feel there astonishment at my imprinting. "Hurry!"

"We're coming! Keep the leech distracted!" Jared replied.

Regrettably they weren't coming fast enough, the she vampire twitched forward and I lunged, I could hear the pack running coming closer. Stepping back the leech almost got away but I sunk my teeth into her hand and ripped it off, hearing the joints in her wrist popping loose. Screeching the vampire ran at me, I ducked to the side and she ran into my on coming pack and was quickly no more that bits and pieces that Embry gladly set on fire. I looked back on my imprint to see her unconscious, my chest constricted, she better be okay. Quickly phasing back, sliding on my pants that miraculously stayed tied around my ankle this whole time, and ran to her kneeling down to listen to her shallow breathing.

Everyone was phased and gathering around us as I gently lifted her into my arms, "We have to get her help." I said urgently looking to Sam; he'd know what to do.

"Take her to Sue's, we'll meet you there." What I would give to know her name.

With replying I turned and took off in the direction of Sue's house, praying my imprint would be okay.

**Ookkayyy… I'm not very good at writing form a guy's point of view it seems, so I guess I'll stick mainly or completely to Bella's POV. Anyway, I'll put up a new chapter as soon as possible. By the way, thank you to everyone who has reviewed, or alerted, or favorited this story, its very encouraging. : ) Thanks**


	5. Chapter 5

**Okay, I know I haven't updated in a very, very long time and for that I'm sorry. Unfortunately, as many or all of you know, life gets in the way of things such as reading or writing. So, with this in mind you'll have to forgive my untimely updates.**

**Finally, here's chapter five, hope you enjoy.**

PPOV

"I don't think there's much more I can do," Sue said, sounding sad, "but she definitely needs more attention. Unfortunately we'll have to take her to the hospital, I'm just a nurse and we don't have the necessary equipment her."

My stomach clinched and my heart throbbed painfully, restraining tears at the poor health of this girl I didn't know from eve; but loved all the same. I rubbed my face roughly and combed my hands through my dark tangled hair, sighing.

"Well than we're going to need a cover story" Quil spoke softly, as if not to startle anyone, for his place by the door.

"I'm not sure we do…" Leah spoke, not removing her gaze from watching Sue gently scrub dried blood from the young girls face. "We'll just say we found her injured in the forest, just like we did. Leaving out the part that we we're giant fur balls while we did it; of course." Leah had seemed unusually struck by the state of my imprint, angry and sad. Which we all felt of course, the only reason it was strange for Leah was because she wasn't one for showing her emotions with the pack.

Brady snorted, "And what were we doing? Hiking out in the dark?"

Leah gave him her signature glare, "Or, dipshit, we could say that we were out camping and she stumbled into our campsite. Or you found her coming back from fishing. I don't know, but its really not all that hard of a concept Brady."

The others had to chuckle at her sarcasm, but I was to tense and kept my eyes glued to my wounded imprint. Finally I spoke, my voice rough. "Do you think we could think of a story on the way? And get my imprint to the hospital?"

"We're goin-"

"She's in pain!" I snapped, quickly cutting Quil off. I took a deep breath in through my nose. I've had an imprint for less than two hours and I was already freaking out. "We leave now." I said more calmly but in a voice that left no room for arguing.

Sam stood up straight from his leaning position on the wall and gently moved Emily aside. "He's right, she needs attention and we have to make sure she gets it. Embry and Collin; you guys will go out on patrol, making sure the red head didn't have any friends with her. In fact, Quil will go with you. We don't know if she brought any friends at all, but for all we know she could have brought more than one. I'll go with Paul to the Hospital," he said turning to me, "You should sit with her in the back as I drive." Of course I was, even if he said otherwise I was still going to. "And Jared and Jacob; you'll stay here with the girls. Will call and update you guys on…" He trailed off; not knowing her name. Hearing him trail off brought it in to focus; I didn't even know her name… What I wouldn't give to know her name. "On her progress." Sam finally finished.

Rachel grabbed Sam's arm and his attention. "I want to come Sam" her eyes flashed to my imprint with a motherly look in her eyes that warmed my heart. It filled me with an unidentifiable pleasure that my imprint was already being accepted into the pack. Emily looked back up to Sam pleadingly, "I may not know her yet, but she's already part of this family.

Sam of course caved and said she could come. Sue said she was coming, clearly not asking and simply stating as a fact that she was coming. Which, by default, left Jacob and Jared to come, they both smiled at that; making a jealous fire run through me, _it they even think about-._ I didn't even finish the thought before I remembered the both had imprints. I stared at my own imprint, _what the hell was she doing to me?_

"Alright then," Sam said, "let's go."

I went over to my imprint and slid my arms under her gently, lifting her slowly. Even with my caution; she let out a soft whimper, making me freeze and my heart constrict.

"It's alright Paul." Sue said, gently laying a calming hand on my arm. What on earth made her think hurting my imprint was okay? "She's very delicate right now; even a butterfly landing on her would make her flinch." I know her words were meant to be comforting, but hearing how fragile and how much in pain my girl was in; was doing nothing more but making me restrain myself from shaking. It was obvious that someone had done this to her. There were hand shaped bruises all over her body. When I find who did this to her, and I will, he was a dead man. Plan and simple, he was going to suffer. I was- I clenched my teeth together tightly, this was not helping me keep calm. I switched my thoughts to getting my imprint to the hospital and walked out to the car taking a deep breath of my imprints scent. It was calming and alluring and I couldn't imagine how powerful it'd be once she was washed clean of all the dirt, blood, and grim.

**Once again, writing from a guy's point of view is really hard, although I love reading from it. Anyway this chapter seems kind of boring to me… lacking, but I don't know how to fix it. So if you guys have any ideas on how I can improve that, please say so. Thanks : ) hope you enjoyed.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Okay, time for some actual interaction between Paul and Bella. Sounds difficult, let's see how I do.**

**Chapter 6**

Beep…beep…beep…

Damn it; I though coming to awareness. Anyone who reads books or watches television knows that sound means you're in the hospital. I'm surprised I'm not doggy chow, that beast was huge. I probably should be happier that I'm here getting the help that I most definitely need after these past few months, but at the moment I was groggy, sore, and wondering what the hell I was going to do once I got out of here. I struggled to open my eyes; only to shut them immediately against the obnoxiously bright hospital lights. I heard someone to the right of me gasp and mutter under there breath,

"Paul has the worst timing; he just had to pee the exact moment she wakes up."

The sound of another person brought my eyes back open pretty quickly. There were two women, one who looked to be in her early twenties and the other in her early fifties. The older woman was obviously aging gracefully, her brown hair was sporadically streaked with gray and pulled back into a ponytail, she was sitting up straight; yet still looked relaxed giving her an elegant beauty that few older women pulled off. The younger of the two had three scars running down the side of her face, but she worked them well and they gave her a sort of wild beauty. Her eyes, however, gave her away as the more motherly type; rather than wild. Kind and gentle. Besides the two women there were also three huge men that all looked alike, yet distinctly different. The one that was sitting by my bed, I assumed was the one who spoke earlier, was muscled; as the all were, but not as much as the other two. He had blue eyes, unlike the other men; who both had brown, and was staring at me, seemingly waiting for me to do something. The largest of the three had his arms wrapped around the young scared girl, seeming relaxed in the position as if it were a constant, and had an air of authority and leadership about him. The last man had tan skin and black hair just like the other two, but his hair was longer than theirs and falling into his eyes. He was smiling at me like he knew me.

I could tell none of them were nurses or doctors and I had no idea why they would be in my hospital room. I was positive I didn't know any of them.

"Hi?" I finally decided to say, still thoroughly confused.

As soon as I spoke there was a muffled gasp from behind a closed door across the room; that I assumed to be the bathroom, and the toilet flushed, the sink was turned on and then off, and the door burst open in record timing; only to reveal yet another buff, dark haired, tan man. Only his eyes were silver. He was big, rivaling the big guy who held the scared girl and had long hair like the man who had been smiling at me. He was handsome, I mean they all were, but he had that straight nosed, chiseled jaw, manly kind of look that I loved.

He was looking at me like I held the secrets of the world in my hands, devoted and utterly in awe. I was just a tich confused to say in the least. He walked over to the other side of my bed and took my hand looking me in the eyes.

"I'm so glad you awake and okay." He looked at me sincerely, as if I had not made it, it would have been devastating to him. "Are you feeling alright?"

"I'm fine, thank you." I replied, the politeness my parents ingrained in me coming out.

He turned to the others in the room accusingly, "Why didn't you tell me she was awake?"

The blue eyed guy on the other side of my bed laughed and said, "She just woke up like two seconds ago, chill." The other looked amused as well.

I wiggled my hand form the dramatic guy's hand, it brought a pained look to his face that only had me more confused. I tried to think, maybe I had memory lose and I was important to these people, but I quickly declined the idea. I knew exactly why I was here and unfortunately remembered every detail. The only thing missing was how I got here, and I knew that was a blank because I fell unconscious after the beast like wolf jumped over me at the red eyed woman… my story sounded slightly insane now that I thought about it, but I was certain it really happened. I've been through a lot but I was in no way delusional.

"As much as its sweet and nice that I have a group of people who seemingly care about me to greet me as I wake up from the hospital… I have no idea who any of you are." I said; since they didn't seem inclined to bring it up.

"Oh my" said the older woman. "We seem to have forgotten our manners. I'm Sue, that over there" she pointed to the scared girl and the man holding her. "is Emily and Sam." Moving on to the smiley guy she said, "That's Jacob and the two young men beside you are Jared and Paul." She pointed to the blue eyed guy as Jared and the man who was holding my hand earlier as Paul.

I smiled at everyone politely, still thoroughly confused. "Um… Hi? I'm Bella."

Paul repeated my name under his breath sounding dazed. I raised an eyebrow at him and he sheepishly smiled back.

"You have a beautiful name."

I blushed, I barely knew these people and yet every one of them had there focus on me. I was about to say thanks when a doctor walked in,

"Ah, I see our patient is finally awake, how are you feeling dear?" The doctor was an older man with slowly graying and reseeding black hair and caring eyes.

I bit back a sigh, the doctor seemed nice enough but I really wanted to know why these random people were here and so concerned with me. "I'm fine, thank you."

"Well you're very lucky, not much longer and the wounds you had would have been fatal." I heard Paul let out a shaky breath. "It must be nice seeing how much your friends and family care about you; they've all been very worried."

I really didn't know what to say to that, as it happens; I had no idea who these people were or why they would be anxiously waiting by my bedside. I settled for smiling at him.

The doctor's expression changed into something sad and serious, as if he had just remembered some bad news he received earlier. He looked down at his clipboard before looking back up to me. "Now miss…" he trailed of and looked at me expectantly.

"Swan. Isabella Swan, but call me Bella please."

"Right, Ms. Swan. We've noticed that some of you injuries seem old and obviously inflected by another person." Paul took my hand; breathing hard and shaking. Yeah… what is with this guy, the others looked ad at what they were hearing; but Paul was acting as if what ever happened to me affected him personally too. "I think we need to talk about this… Your friends can leave the room if you'd feel more comfortable talking alone."

"We'll stay." Paul said; stating it like a fact.

I looked at him incredulously, what made him think he had the right to decide that for me? I don't even freakin' know him! Paul seemed to realize he sounded like a pompous ass and looked at me apologetically and then switched to desperate. He mouthed 'please' at me and gave me 'puppy-dog eyes'. Once again I question, what is with this guy?

"Um…" I really wasn't fond of being put on the spot like this. I looked around the room at everyone, trying to decide what to do. These people didn't know me; therefore they didn't really have the right to hear my story, but then again; I couldn't really think of anything wrong with them knowing. Who cares if they knew? It wasn't as if I had done anything wrong or should be ashamed. So that made up my mind, that and I didn't really know how to say 'no, I don't know you, so I don't want you to know'. "I guess they can stay."

Paul breathed out a sigh of relief next to me and brought my hand to his chest holding it tightly; yet gently and said "Thank you." I smiled awkwardly and took my hand back.

Jared laughed, as did Jacob. "Dude you're so whipped." Sam laughed and nodded his head in agreement and Paul gave Jared a warning look, one that said 'shut up or I'll hurt you'.

The doctor cleared his throat, "Okay then." He grabbed a chair from across the room and dragged it to my bedside. "Are you ready Ms. Swan?"

Only then did I realize the down fall to letting all these strangers stay here and listen, I might cry. I didn't feel like I would cry now but I knew rationally there would be a time where it would all hit me and I was going to have to let out my emotions. This might very well happen while explain everything.

I took a deep breathe and Paul took my hand again and said, "It'll be alright." I looked at him as he rubbed his thumb across my knuckles. His word were strange coming from a stranger, but oddly comforting. I could see in his eyes that he did care for some reason, he cared a lot. I smiled and took courage at this strange yet handsome stranger and began my story.

**Well, once again this seems to me like a very boring chapter but I really don't know how to change that. Anywho, hope you guys enjoyed it anyway : ) I'm open to anyone who has ideas for this story, cause I'm more of a reader than a writer, so help is welcome.**

**And I now know how to reply to reviews and such, and no I didn't know before; computers and I aren't exactly friends. So if you have questions I can now answer them. Whoopy!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Sorry I haven't updated in awhile, I've been busy with life and all that jazz. Plus it's really hard to see where to go from here. **

**On another note, thank you to everyone that reviewed! I really appreciate it and its encouraging : ) Anywho, here's chapter 7, hope you enjoy.**

**Chapter 7**

PPOV

Bella was telling us her story, she was almost finished and all I could seem to do was sit numbly and loosely hold her hand, not letting go even though she had tried to discreetly pull away several times. As she spoke in a calm voice I had shook, I had held back tears only partially succeeding, I had clenched my teeth with pain inducing force, I had closed my eyes trying to escape the images going through my mind, and had done a myriad of other things in this onslaught of emotions. Several times I let loose an angered growl, receiving warning looks from the pack and questioning looks from Bella when she caught it. Now though, as she neared the part where I entered to story, all I could do was sit here and stare at her beautiful red lips as she spoke. She had only cried once at the beginning as she recalled her parent's death, blessedly she allowed me to hold her as she regained control of her self; and when she did she pulled away blushing and confused. After that though she didn't cry at all, in fact; she only seemed mad as she recalled her torture, ostensibly barely holding back her rage. I had to smile slightly at that, my imprint was one strong, kick-ass woman, and I loved it.

"… I found my self lost in the forest, tired and trying to think of away to keep warm for the night, since, although I kept walking, I had no hope making it out of the forest before nightfall, when…" Bella paused and looked around to room worriedly. I was waiting for her to jump into and explanation of running into wolfy me and my standoff with the leech, but she just looked down at her hands and said, "when I passed out." I could tell she was lying, this whole time she had looked us all in the eye with her head held high, until now. "Next thing I knew I woke up here."

She looked up, the doctor was nodding with understanding and the pack was looking at her knowingly, apparently I wasn't the only one who noticed her lying. The elderly doctor stood up, he's knees cracking,

"Well, Isabella, I'm sorry for the suffering you have gone through and I'm sure you'd like to get out of here as soon as possible to go to your loving home and rest. So I'm just going to go get the release forms for your family to fill out and phone the police, unfortunately you'll have to speak with the police before you leave." The doctor said this all as he walked toward the door.

Bella looked at him incredulously as if to say 'do I really look related to any of these people?', she really didn't, her pale complexion to our dark, "Actually, doctor, these peop-"

Emily quickly cut her of, "That would be great, thank you." She smiled brightly at the confused doctor looking from Emily to Bella.

"Of course." Was all he said before he was out the door.

Bella slid her hand from mine and I stared at it longingly, damn I was whipped, but it was amazing how good it felt just holding her hand. Imagine how good it would feel- I quickly cut off that line of thought, this was not the time or the place. Bella was looking at us, one eyebrow raised.

"You know you all are not my family," Bella's words cut me; I felt the need to reach out for her hand and tell her otherwise, "a matter of fact I don't know any of you."

"And we know" Jacob stepped forward, "that wandering in the forest was not the last thing you remember before fainted."

Bella's eyes widened slightly before she sat up a little straighter and stared defiantly back at Jake, "And if it wasn't?" We've seemed to have breeched her impeccable manners.

"Wouldn't you rather go home with someone who didn't think you were crazy?" Sue added softly, her eyes sympathetic.

Bella sighed loudly; sending a stray bit of hair flying around her face before landing in front of her eye, she pushed it behind her ear roughly. I wish I could have done it gently for her without her thinking I was a complete creep. "I'd _rather_ go home with someone I actually know. Besides, I don't plan on telling anyone I saw-…" the pack leaned forward but she quickly cut off, smashing her lips into a straight line.

"Not to be rude," Jacob started, I glared at him, no one was allowed to be rude to my girl. He studiously ignored me and continued "but from your story you seemed to imply you didn't have any other family…" Jacob frowned; seemingly upset he had to bring up the sad truth.

Profound grief showed up on Bella's face, I quickly grabbed her hand and gave a comforting squeeze. I couldn't stand to see her in such pain. She looked at me seeming conflicted whether to smile in thanks or snatch her hand back from the stranger. In the end she settled for both, smiling sweetly with grateful eyes and leaving my hands empty and tingling.

"Yes," she said, "that is so, however I am eighteen and I don't need to leave with anyone… strangers included." She looked us all in the eye making it clear we were said strangers.

Emily stepped forward, her face still marred with sadness and sympathy for Bella, a beseeching hand stretched out. "But you have no where to go…" Bella stared at Emily, looking as if she was trying to solve a particularly hard puzzle, a small cute crease between her eyebrows. "Stay with us at least until your able to get a job and have the ability to live on your own." My heart constricted with the thought of her eventually leaving, my eyes flashed to Emily who was purposely ignoring me, then to Sam who discreetly winked at me.

"Who exactly would I live with?" her eyes sweeping across the group, "How do you expect me to trust total strangers?"

Emily smiled, "With Sam and I of course."

Bella gave an incredulous smile back, "And the expecting me to trust complete strangers? You guys all caring intensely for someone you don't know from eve, although sweet, is a little…" her eyes flashed to me, "odd." Her thinking I was 'odd', although understandable in her position, sent a pang through me heart. I took a deep breath, she would understand soon, hopefully, and realize I only hold pure love for her.

"We already protected you once." Quil, the genius, decided to speak up.

Bella stared at him blankly, "Pardon?"

I gave him a sharp look, he swallowed loudly but decided to continue, "The wol-"

"May we show you something after you're able to get out of the hospital?" Sam quickly cut Quil off.

Emily sighed loudly in exasperation but it was Bella who spoke, "No offense… but do you know how creepy that sounded?"

Realizing his mistake Sam was quick to continue, "Nothing like that! I promise. It's just something… something… something that's hard to explain, but it is non-creepy, will not harm you in any way, and will help you make up your mind." My heart thudded loudly in my chest, I knew what Sam was talking about and was deathly afraid of how Bella would take it. It's obvious she's a strong girl but the mystical is a little hard to be okay with. I couldn't take it if she ran from us, me.

"Really sweetheart," Sue said, "We only want what's best for you."

"The question is why…" Bella spoke slowly, clearly mystified.

"Listen," Emily came and sat at the foot of her bed, gently laying a hand on Bella's blanket clad leg naturally, it was obvious Emily already considered her family. "We'll show you what we need to and if you don't like it, well, you can leave. No one will stop you." My heart twisted painfully. _No, don't leave._

I couldn't help it; I reached out and grabbed her hand for the millionth time, "Please?" I sounded weak, not a normal occurrence, but staring pleadingly into her eyes I knew she was the only person who can bring me to my knees with the simplest words, gestures.

She looked at us all one by one, myself last, she was blatantly still perplexed but she seemed to be slowly conceding. "Okay… I listen to what you have to say… or see, I guess, what you have to show me. Really don't have anywhere else to go anyway…"

My heart swelled and I was filled with dread at the same time, she could either crown me the happiest man alive or dash my hope and essentially kill me inside. I pray ardently that she accept us, me, and eventually come to love me and I love her.

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter! : ) Tell me what you think! I'm having a hard time thinking of what should happen after this, so ideas are welcome. Thank you to those who have offered ideas already. Someone suggested that Bella should get pregnant eventually in the story (thank you for the suggestion by the way), what do you guys think of that? I'll try to update more consistently, but you know that pesky little thing called everyday life and responsibilities gets in the way, but I'll see what I can do.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Finally, the next chapter, sorry it took so long, but it's getting harder and harder to see how to proceed from here. I know it's greatly unfair to those who have reviewed and been so supportive but I'll try my best to be more consistent. My family and I just finished moving, so hopefully I'll have more time to write. : ) **

**Hope you enjoy.**

**Oh! And I always forget to put this but we all know I don't own Twilight. Belongs to Stephenie.**

**Chapter 8**

**BPOV**

I'm walking through the forest with complete strangers… Stupid enough to actually do this… I'm beginning to think I'm becoming mentally deficient. I blame it on the abuse; I don't recall being this brainless before.

Sam and Emily posed as my family and signed me out of the hospital, no one questioned. I thought that odd but didn't question either. Maybe cause I'm eighteen. I was released with instruction on how to get back to my proper health. The police had come and asked me questions. I agreed to press charges as soon as they were able to find Phil; I gave them the best directions I could, which wasn't much. Paul helped a little, giving the exact area which he had found me. Hoping, since Phil wasn't here in the hospital, I told them Phil was probably still at his house trying to tend to his wounds his self _or_, with a bit of luck, still bleeding out in my old 'room.'

After that; I left with my group of oh so caring random strangers, curious as to what they had to show me. Which is how I ended up walking in the forest wondering about my declining intelligence, Sam leading our bizarre group, and occasionally speeding up to avoid Paul's guiding hand gently resting against my lower back. It was confusing. Paul continued to be sweet and caring, which was great and would have been greatly appreciated had I any idea who he was. I wasn't completely sure how to react to these gestures that would have been more appropriate for a loving boyfriend. It wasn't like he was hurting me or anything but he was still an unfamiliar person. As are all of these people that I've decided to trust enough to wander into the woods with.

About a half an hour later Sam stopped and the others followed his lead all at the same time, like some small army all of their own.

"Okay, I think this is far enough." Sam said and the whole group turned to look at me… _awkward_.

"Okay then?" I said, since they all seemed inclined to just stare at me, Paul more intensely so than the rest.

It started to drizzle, rain drops looking like little caught crystals in their dark hair. My shoes sunk slightly into the muddy forest floor. I was shivering but they all seemed fine, not at all bothered by the cold. Minus the women, they seemed to be in the same chilly boat as me.

"Alright Bella, we need you to have an open mind about this." Sam said.

"I walked into the forest with a bunch of strangers didn't I?" I smirked, I couldn't help it, I had a point.

Sam smiled, "That you did."

"Alrighty," I clapped my hands together and winced at the pain in my bruised wrist, I saw Paul flinch from the corner of my eye, "let's get this show on the road."

"Okay, Paul?" Sam said.

Paul looked at me with anxious eyes before he walked deeper into the forest, taking off his wet shirt as he went. I got little worried, why was he taking off his clothes? I looked to Sam, since he seemed to be the leader of this shindig, and raised an eyebrow.

He chuckled and shook his head, "Don't worry, just wait."

He nodded his head to the direction Paul went. I looked back and came face to face with the huge beast I saw in the forest before the hospital. I squealed and fell back onto my butt, wet pine needles sticking to my hands.

"What the hell?" I looked around to the others; they all appeared calm, looking between me and the wolf-like creature. They seemed more concerned with how I was reacting than anything else. I stood up slowly, unsteady on my feet, and backed up cautiously. The beast whined and lowered to the ground, ears tucked to its head, distinct human eyes looking up pleadingly. What. The. Hell? Why aren't they freaking out about this? As if there wasn't a massive predatory animal in front of us. Please don't tell me I really am going insane.

"Bella?" I slid my eyes to the side to see Emily leaning against Sam casually without moving my head. "You already know each other but I'll introduce you again. Bella, this is Paul." She waived her hand nonchalantly towards the wolf.

"I seriously doubt that." I said stiffly, shaking my head slightly in denial.

"Where's Paul then?"

"How should I know?" _don't pass out, don't pass out._ This is all just some elaborate trick. Paul's hiding and this is some new breed of dog mixed with something or other that they have well trained. These people have nothing better to do with their time.

Sam stepped forward and in complete seriousness said, "Bella. We're all werewolves." I gave him the 'are you crazy' look. All he said in reply was, "Well, us men anyway."

I looked back to the beast and back to Sam, "That's nice." I said sarcastically.

"I'm serious Bella."

"Unless I see one of you burst into a fur ball I'm not buying that." I said a bit harshly. Why did I trust outlandish strangers again?

The wolf inched forward on its belly and I backed up, keeping my distance.

It was raining a bit harder now. The jeans Emily loaned me we soaked, which normally would have drove me nuts but at the moment I hardly noticed. The wolf's fur was getting pushed closer to his powerfully built body and turning darker, more gray than its earlier silver, as it soaked in the rain.

"We can't exactly show you that…" Sam said with what sounded like some small embarrassment.

"Oh? Is that so?" I replied, once again, sarcastic.

"Not because we can't turn into wolves, but we have to take off our clothes before we do."

I threw my hands up in air in exasperation and distaste. The wolf's head popped up with my movements, looking at me intensely with what seemed like worry. I put my hands down slowly, best not upset the beast, before replying.

"Oh do you?"

Emily made a frustrated noise and knocked Sam in the back of the head. It didn't seem to hurt him at all but he looked confused and mouthed 'what?' at her. The classic 'what did I do?' expression on his face.

Emily sighed, "What Sam meant to word differently is, when they morph into giant wolves their clothing rips off. So in order to save their clothes they take them off before phasing. Trust me, this isn't some creepy naked cult get together."

"Oh." I paused. She had a point, their clothes couldn't possibly stay on something that size and shape, and its not like they disappeared and reappeared in and out of existence. That is… if they really are werewolves. "Okay then." I began, ignoring the blush coming to my checks. "Come out in your underwear and show me you can actually phase into a wolf. After you'll just have to do without underwear, because unless I see this I'm not accepting it as true and I am this close" I held my thumb and pointer finger barely an inch apart. "from walking away. No offense, but this is all kind of scary and strange."

"Yeah Paul," Jacob said from behind me, chuckling, "if the girl wants a show; give her one."

"Oh shut up." I said at the same time the wolf growled in warning, quickly gaining my attention again. I backed up more, eyes trained on 'Paul' and Jacob put what I think was meant to be a reassuring hand on my shoulder. But if I wanted to run and he tried to stop me I'm going to punch him.

"Okay Paul, you know what you got to do." Sam said.

'Paul' looked between Sam and I before huffing and trotting back into the forest. I would have laughed at the sight if I wasn't completely freaking out inside.

A couple minutes later, we were graced with a nearly nude Paul. Looking at the ground, a blush coloring his tan checks. Jacob and Jared laughed. I was no doubt blushing too at the undeniably uncomfortable situation, but I tried not to let my discomfiture show.

"What are you so worried about? You have a_ fantastic_ body," he really did, completely muscle, "just go wolfy and show me proof… if you can."

Paul blushed harder but there was a smirk on his face now as he met my eyes.

"Alright, you might want to step back some." He said; his voice deep and cocky.

I did as asked and he started to shake. A lot. I was suddenly concerned.

"He's not have a seizure is he?" not that it was common to remain standing while having one.

"He's fine, just watch." Sam said quickly.

Glancing around I saw that I was the only one watching Paul. Everyone else had their attention trained on me. It was still raining but being ignored. I kept blinking rain drops from my eyelashes to keep my vision clear as I watched Paul shake.

There was a ripping sound and quicker that I can comprehend Paul _exploded_ into an enormous wolf. The same wolf from earlier.

"Oh. ." my voice barely above a whisper. _No. Way_. The mythical actually exist.

I better not be going insane. I looked around at the others and they were all smiling at me like I was baby talking her first step. I looked back to Paul, he was on his stomach again, his head now level with my mine. Starring at me curiously with some other emotions I couldn't identify.

"Paul?" I questioned, still barely above a whisper as I took a step closer. He nodded his gigantic head.

My ears started to ring. _Uh-oh._ Darkness was creeping in from the sides of my vision. I _so_ did not want to pass out right now.

"Oh no." I heard Sue say through what seemed like a layer of cloud stuffed into my ears. "This may be too much for her fragile body right now." I dimly heard Paul whine.

Someone came forward and grabbed my shoulders, turning me to look at them. It was Jacob, Paul growled lowly.

"Oh be quiet," I could make out Jacob saying, "I'm not trying to make a move on your girl." Say what? "Bella. Focus on me." I tried to do as he said, fighting the encroaching darkness. "Breathe deeply. In and out. Calm down. Come on Bella. You don't really want to pass out do you?" Oh yeah, sounds like fun. Of course _not_ you idiot. Despite my inner rant I recognized he was just being nice and trying to help. I did as he said, trying to focus and breathing deeply. The ringing in my ears got high pitch and louder for a second before starting to fade, taking the darkness from my eyes with it.

Taking one last deep breath I said, "I think I'm okay."

"Good." Jacob said smiling. He rubbed my shoulders and stepped back.

"Thank you."

"Ah, not a problem." He said, waving my thanks away with his hand. "I'm just a natural born knight in shining armor."

I smiled before turning back to Paul. "Is he still in control of himself?" I asked cautiously.

Sam chuckled, "Yeah, we're still ourselves, just in wolf form. We have as much control as we do when we're human."

"That's good to know." I walked forward until I was directly in front of Paul. He watched me curiously as I looked him over. "Do you guys like to be pet and play fetch?"

They all laughed at my question, sort of like I should already know. Jacob answered.

"Being pet is… sorta like a hug I suppose. Just, nice. And no. We do not play fetch. We don't have the mind of a dog, it's just our mind in the body of a wolf."

I giggled, "Okay just curious." I reached my hand out, he didn't smell it, just nudged it with his nose in welcome. Ran my hand in between his ears, my other combing his check. This was so _amazing._. "Hi Paul." His nose nuzzled my neck and I jumped back. One: because I was ticklish, two: because his nose was wet, and three: because I still didn't know him all that well.

I decided to share only two of my reasons, laughing I said, "I'm ticklish and your nose is wet." Everyone laughed as I wiped my neck off; Paul lolled out his tongue and aimed for my face. I ducked, "Stop that!" Paul rumbled, I've never heard a wolf laugh before, go figure, but it sounded similar to that of a growl low and deep but some how lighter, less menacing.

"So you're okay with this?" Emily asked, her eyes hopeful.

I was petting Paul's head again as I talked, it was natural, dog sitting next to you, you pet it. "I have just one question."

"Alright." Sam said, smiling, he seemed pleased with how I was taking this.

"Why'd you tell _me_?"

**Okay, glad I finally got another chapter up. I wasn't really sure how to make her reaction realistic but have her except it quickly enough to move on. Therefore, we have this iffy chapter. I hope you enjoyed anyway. Tell me what you think and I'm definitely open to ideas.**

**Thanks for reading.**


	9. Chapter 9

**This story is so dang hard to write and I have no idea why. Seriously, any ideas are welcome.**

**Okay, finally posting the next chapter. Sorry for the wait, hope you enjoy.**

**Chapter 9**

**BPOV**

Sam looked at me warily and wolfy Paul tensed under my hand. Still cautious I took a step back, only to have him whine and push his head under my hand again.

"I think" Emily stepped closer to me and wrapped an arm around my shoulders as if we were best buds, "that's a question for another day." She gave me a gentle squeeze and started walking away, taking my hand and making me follow. "Now, I don't know about you bet I hate wet clothes. Let's all go home, get nice and warm, and I'll cook us a big dinner. How's that sound?"

The guys responded eagerly, varying from polite 'yes please's to 'hell ya's. Emily rolled her eyes. The proposition had obviously been directed mostly towards me. Emily dropped my hand in return for Sam's and turned to face me.

"We'll get your room all set up too. You can barrow some of my clothes until we get a chance to go shopping for you." Without looking at him she commanded, "Go phase Paul. Everyone get dry and meet at my place."

Well all walked back to the hospital parking lot, Paul staying close to me, much to my ever continuing confusion, and Jacob kept up an endless easy string of chatter. Asking me random classic questions, like my favorites.

Emily and Sam were walking behind our group, as if they were parents keeping a close eye on their children. I turned around to ask Emily if she wanted my help making dinner after I showered and changed. It was the least I could do, although these people were confusing, strange, and actually turned into giant dogs, they were kind and offering me a place to stay for an indifferent amount of time.

As I turned Paul followed my movement, turning with me mindlessly as if it were natural to be so in tune with me, staying as close as possible without actually touching me. I paused and turned to look at him instead of Emily, raising an eyebrow. He raised his own eyebrow, looking at me as if I were the one being unreasonably weird towards a stranger, smirking.

"What? Do I smell like your favorite flavor of Kibbles and Bits or something?" I asked, Jacob snorted before laughing "Cause you've basically been attached to my hip. Is there something I can help you with? Do you have a question?"

The others had stopped walking and were watching our little chit-chat. Paul looked at me with wide eyes, unsure how to respond. With everyone else he was confident, cocky, always had a response. With me… he just seemed jumbled.

"Well… I… you…" he trailed off, before smirking and finally replying in a full sentence. "Well, you do smell good, but nothing like Kibble and Bits. More like wild flowers and apple."

"Glad you took note of my scent…" I said incredulous, "Do I make you uncomfortable?"

**PPOV**

Did she make me uncomfortable? She wasn't supposed to, right? I was supposed to feel completely comfortable, peaceful, and in a way I did, but she was still the only person who made me nervous, made me stutter. Looking down at this woman, almost a whole foot shorter than me, looking completely innocent with her big doe eyes, despite her cocky attitude, I decided I'd push my nerves aside entirely and just be myself. I had to get her to fall in love with the real me anyway, right? Plus, I want my balls back damn it… though, if she's the one holding them, I could make this work.

"Not at all," I said and gripped Bella's shoulders, my fingers almost touching around her back, her clothes still damp. I worried for her health and a few ways to get her warm ran through my mind, "it's just that, your natural charm," I moved my hands slowly down to her waist, enjoying the feel of her soft feminine curves under my hands. She gripped my fore arms giving me the 'what the hell do you think your doing' look that she seemed to have down so well. The others watched silently, Jared's mouth trembling in effort to hold back a smile. "just… draws me in." finishing my sentence I hoisted her into the air and gentle laid her across my shoulder, she squealed loudly none the less.

I couldn't help but laugh as he growled, "Paul," Drawing out my name in irritation, her small hands pushing against my back to keep a somewhat upright position. "Put. Me. Down." She said each word slowly, individually, as if to make sure I would understand them.

"Or what little kitten?" I chuckled, even knowing what I am she continued her threatening demeanor, she had no chance. "Besides, I quite like you where you are."

"Paul!" she screamed irritated.

"Yes?" I answered as innocently as could.

She slumped over my shoulder, yelling into my back, her breasts brushing against me. Shouldn't be thinking about that right now! My mind yelled at me, though my wolf thoroughly disagreed,

Pushing against my back again she looked at me over her shoulder the best she could. "What part of 'I don't know you that well' and personal space don't you understand?" she narrowed her eyes at me; "You are _clearly_ in my bubble."

"Oh, is this your bubble?" I asked, using my hand to indicate the general area around her.

"Yes." She said, punctuating it with a nod.

"Oh." I pretended to look surprised before smirking, "Well then." I pointed finger and made the action of poking her 'bubble' while making the 'pop' sound with my lips.

"Ugh!" she slumped back down again. The others were laughing at her expense, Sam and Emily holding it back the best.

"Put! Me! Down!" She punctuated each word with a slap to my rear. Inside I was dancing that she felt comfortable enough to touch me, however menacingly she meant it. "Paul! I'm going to rip off your downstairs cheeks and feed them to the rest of your pack if you don't put me down!"

Jacob made a gagging noise, "I've got better taste than that sweetheart." My wolf growled at the nick name but I held it in, reminding my self that that 'sweetheart' was over _my_ shoulder at the moment.

Jared had to put his input, chuckling, "Paul, the other white meat."

Bella and the others laughed, her laughter like music and her body moving against me softly.

"Alright, alright!" Emily said laughing, "You guys all want dinner, right? We'll never get home at this pace; Paul put Bella down and lets all start walking again."

"Can't I just carry her to the car Em?" I asked, somewhat pretending to pout.

"You should be asking me that question!" Bella said, shooting up as straight as possible, "And the answers no. Put me down." She said indignant.

"Well since you asked so nicely." I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes.

I put her down and we all walked to the car, telling Bella that the others would run home when she asked about car space. Her eyes lit up and she enthusiastically told us how 'neat' that was, I was so happy she accepted us so well. I would occasionally throw my arm around her shoulder and she would push it off and continue talking to whoever had her attention at the moment as if nothing happened. Everyone would talk to her, all wanting to get to know her better. I couldn't help but smile, glad the pack liked her already.

**~Sam and Emily's house~**

Bella stood next to Emily, dicing mushrooms, laughing and joking with Emily as if they were just old friends reconnecting. Sam, same as I, was watching them with a smile on his face. All of us seated at the table, eagerly awaiting the lasagna Emily had planned. I had watched Bella tense and tight in the beginning, giving short polite response to Emily, thanking her profusely for taking her in. Emily acted casual and Bella soon relaxed and fell in beside Emily's easy personality, they were really comfortable around each other and got along great. The five year age difference made no difference, they were fast becoming friends.

If only it were that easy for me, out of everyone she seemed least comfortable around me. It sent a pang through my heart when she shied away from me. But there were moments when she was comfortable, a couple minutes when she wasn't really thinking about it and she'd fall into this mode where it seemed as if we'd always been friends. She'd slap my arm softly when I'd say something stupid, wouldn't really notice when I had a hand on the small of her back or her shoulder. But then she'd go back to how she was, you could see when she remembered she had known me less than a day and I had been strangely intense to her. She would get this suspicious look in her eye and inch away from me, once again giving her full attention to whatever food she was preparing or diving into someone else's conversation.

I looked forward to the day when she would always be comfortable around me, come to me for comfort, love me as I loved her. I wanted to see her in my kitchen as she is now, comfortable and sexy. She had one of Emily's t-shirts on and old pair of pajama bottoms that ironically had kittens and yarn balls all over them rather than dogs. Her hair pulled up into a messy bun, giving her a tousled, sexy, comfy look. No make-up on and beautiful. I want to wake up with her at my side every morning and fall asleep with her in my arms. I wanted her to be my wife, have my name, and wear the ring that told everyone she was mine. To see her one day glowing and round with our child. I hoped, I prayed that when we explained imprinting and why I was so instantly drawn to her she would give me a chance. Come to love me. That she would not shatter my heart that she already held, as only she had the power to do.

**Okay, short chapter, sorry.**

**Paul is a really hard character for me to depict right. He seems a little like a wuss to me right now and I don't want that. In general it's hard to write a story where a logical person falls in love with a stranger quickly without seeming unrealistic or stupid. Well, its hard for me at least, some of you do this beautifully.**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed : ) If you have any ideas, do tell.**

**Tell me whatcha think.**


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